When Bryan Singer announced last week that Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were officially cast in the upcoming film X-Men: Days of Future Past, the internet was quite surprised, but not as surprised as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Neither actor had officially signed onto the film at this time and Singer’s announcement that they were in came as a shock.

“Bryan let the cat out of the bag on Twitter,” Stewart told EW. “And it included announcing that Sir Ian and myself were going to be in this movie. We are, you know, under contractual oath with 20th Century Fox to say nothing about any prospective X-Men movie including the old team. I use “old” advisedly. So it’s a kind of awkward position, because lovely Bryan Singer just blurted it all out there. For me the big thrill is knowing that Bryan Singer is attached to this movie, because not only is he a brilliant director, but also I adore him and hope that it might be true and that we do work together at some point in the future. But I’m not being coy. I know nothing about this project. And I’m hoping that might change in the future.”

He added: “I don’t know that we’re doing it. I have not signed a contract yet. I know there is a project in development, but we have no dates. No detailed casting. Thrilled to hear that my dear friend and colleague Ian McKellen is on board, but I’m sorry, you know, you need to understand, I’m not being cute. I know nothing.”

What about the master of magnetism? “I mean they talked to me about it and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if it happened’, and I didn’t hear any more,” McKellen told Hollywood.com. “And then suddenly Bryan Singer tweets his friends and says, ‘I’m gonna make X-Men with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen’, so that’s how I learned that I got the job!”

Fans shouldn’t worry though as the pair will no doubt appear in the film, and you can’t blame Bryan Singer for sharing the very exciting news a little early.

Scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past boasts a script by Simon Kinberg and is said to be inspired Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s comic book storyline that ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and 142 back in 1981. “Days of Future Past” introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel’s mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.